How 469 Children Die in Northern State; Cause of Death Emerges

Between January and July 2025, Kano State witnessed the unfortunate deaths of at least 469 children due to malnutrition, highlighting a severe public health crisis.

This concern is compounded by the alarming statistic that 51.9 percent of children in the region are stunted, indicating chronic undernutrition.

Professor Ruqayya Aliyu Yusuf from the Department of Information and Media Studies at Bayero University Kano (BUK) addressed this issue during a media sensitization training while presenting her paper titled “Understanding the Basics of Behavioural Change: Towards Improving Malnutrition in Kano State.”

She emphasized that malnutrition, coupled with poor dietary practices, represents a significant challenge in Kano, contributing to Nigeria’s high ranking on the Global Nutrition Index.

Professor Yusuf noted that nationwide, 40 percent of children under the age of five are affected by stunting, with Kano’s figures being particularly concerning.

She cited UNICEF reports from 2025 in her observations and expressed that the root causes of malnutrition include poverty, food insecurity, unhealthy dietary habits, and inadequate health awareness.

Amina Ado Yahaya, a crop scientist, further elaborated on the situation, indicating that Kano has the highest prevalence of underweight children under five, at 42.6 percent.

This dire statistic calls for localized solutions such as home vegetable gardening to improve nutritional outcomes.

Yahaya also pointed out that Vitamin A deficiency remains a critical issue, as it is a leading cause of childhood blindness and exacerbates the severity of common infections like measles and diarrhoea.